“You will soon enough discover that you belong to me. Both of you. By the way, I’m moving in so’s I can keep an eye on my property.” Muttering under his breath, he slammed the door behind him as he left the house.
Louise stared at his belongings stacked against the wall. She’d toss them all out into the yard except it wouldn’t stop him. He wasn’t a man to take no for an answer.
Missy fell into Louise’s arms. “That man makes me feel dirty both inside and out.”
Louise rubbed Missy’s back. “I know. But don’t worry. I’ll find a way to make sure he doesn’t bother us.”
But how would she succeed in keeping her promise?
* * *
Twenty-one-year-old Nate Hawkins, known as Slim at Eden Valley Ranch where he now lived and worked, spent a few minutes at his friend’s grave. “Gordie, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it for your funeral.” To this day, he missed his friend. Things used to be so good between them. Until Gordie’s parents died and Vic entered the picture. Nate had tried to make Gordie see the foolishness of his ways, but Gordie had ignored his warnings.
After that, everything had changed.
Things always changed. His father had died when Nate was eight and Ma had moved them to Rocky Creek so she could find work to support them. She was gone long hours, so he barely saw her and had to take care of himself. He’d found a place of refuge with Gordie and his family. Louise had become part of that group when she moved in with her aunt Bea. In Nate’s mind, she’d become the sunshine of the group.
And now Gordie was gone. And Louise’s sunshine had turned from him.
Nothing lasted forever. Only land, he’d decided, was permanent. Which was why he had his heart set on owning a ranch.
“Goodbye, old friend.” He waited until he was back on the street to put his hat on. He returned home—his ma’s home, at least.
A smile curved his mouth as he thought of the home he had his eye on. A small ranch across the border in Alberta not far from Eden Valley Ranch. There he’d build a secure place of his own.
“Did you say you had a leak in your roof?” he said to Ma. He didn’t wait for her reply before he grabbed a hammer and ladder and climbed up to begin repairs.
He inserted new shingles and pounded in nails.
“Nate.”
He’d know that voice anywhere. Louise. Once they’d been close, but now that, too, had changed.
He’d moved on and had plans of his own. She’d stayed, married Gordie and now carried his child. She’d succeeded in holding on to the Porter family and name.
Slowly he turned to stare down at her. From this perspective, she seemed tiny and vulnerable. He half snorted. Louise had never been vulnerable. She’d always kept up with Gordie and Nate in whatever they’d tackled.
She tipped her head up, shielding her eyes from the glare. He knew their color without seeing them. Brown and challenging. Bold and demanding.
“I need to talk to you.”
He backed down the ladder and faced her. “What can I do for you?”
“How long are you staying to visit your mother?”
He blinked. An odd question from a gal who’d made it clear three years ago that she didn’t care if he went as far north as he could ride. He’d harbored a hope she would accompany him, but she’d quickly made him understand he would do well to pin his hopes in a different direction. And he had, though it had taken a bit of effort. But now his hopes lay in getting his own ranch. His own land.
“I’m not staying long. A few days at the most. I need to get back and take care of some business.” While out riding the herd for Eddie, owner of the Eden Valley spread, Nate had come across an empty log cabin in a pretty little valley. He’d asked about it and learned it belonged to a mountain man who had once tried ranching but found he didn’t care for it. Nate hoped to catch him when he made his regular trek to town to send Christmas presents to his grown daughter. He’d learned the man only stayed long enough to visit an old friend who ran the livery barn. Nate had left a message with Rufus at the livery barn that he wanted to speak to Mountain Man Mike about buying the little ranch he had abandoned. Rufus had warned him Mike only stayed a few days. Nate couldn’t afford to miss him.
“Take us with you. Me and Missy.” The words tumbled from Louise’s mouth. She ducked her head as if it hurt her pride to make the request, then lifted her gaze to his, and he felt her demand clear to his toes. And something more he couldn’t identify and didn’t try as his heart leaped at the possibility. Then reality pointed out the facts.
“Don’t see how that’s possible. I have one horse. You’re in the family way and I’m in a hurry. I have to be back by Christmas to see a man who has a little ranch I intend to buy.”
“We could ride the stagecoach.”
He shrugged. “Fine. Go ahead. It’s none of my business who rides it.”
“It’s not that simple. I don’t want to travel alone with Missy.”
Nate leaned into his heels. Not too many years ago he would have welcomed her request and taken her with him. There was a time he’d do almost anything she asked of him and had enjoyed pleasing her, but that time was long gone. She’d made her choice. He’d moved on, started a new life elsewhere. There was no going back.
She ducked her head again and studied her fingers.
He looked at them, too. Saw they were white from her clutching them together. She was hiding something.
“What’s going on, Louise?”
“Vic.”
That’s it? Nate had never cared for the man, but it seemed the others found him...what? Certainly not charming. He had all the appeal of a snake. Nate shook his head. He had never been able to understand why Louise had hung around the man. At least not until she and Gordie had married. Then it made sense.
He hated even thinking of Louise married to Gordie. But there was no denying she’d had special feelings for Nate’s best friend. As much as it hurt, Nate had never let his romantic feelings toward Louise stand in the way of his two friends. Good thing he’d left when he did.
“What about Vic?” he asked her.
“He’s...well, he’s getting bothersome.”
“In what way?” Surely now that Gordie was dead, the man had sought out another partner to do his bidding.
She wobbled her hands in a gesture that told him nothing. “Your mother says the lady at Eden Valley Ranch welcomes people who are in need of a place to stay. All I’m asking is you accompany us there, then I promise we won’t bother you again.”
“Louise, it’s a weeklong trip. We have to stay overnight in some very tight quarters.” He waited for her to realize what he meant and knew she did when pink stained her cheeks. “It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to travel together
